All our ducks were in a row and we slipped out of town dodging the unrelenting tropical waves and September low pressure troughs at the absolute peak of hurricane season. On again, off again black rain clouds mercilessly traversed the Yucatan.

Traveling light included our German bicycle rain capes, [the same type used by British police.] and plastic covers for our packs. Folding bicycles and space age 6 ounce hammocks gave us freedom of movement and unparallel comfort.

After a five hour bus trip from Merida, we arrived a 1 p.m. at Playa del Carmen, which is on Yucatan’s tropical Caribbean coast.

Twenty-five years ago the sleepy little fishing village of Playa del Carmen had but one claim to fame. It was the ferry landing for San Miguel on the island of Cozumel, 19 km. away in the Caribbean.
Today Playa has become a significant shopping and tourist destination with all varieties of accommodations ranging from five-star all inclusive to budget. A first time visitor may easily get the impression that they are on Spain’s Costa del Sol.

Rain squalls did us a favor; as luck would have it the bus terminal had a covered bench on the walking street just waiting for us and Jane had the fixings for a picnic lunch.

As we finished our lunch, the rain quit and we rolled away.

We rode north to check out some accommodation leads…we were not thrilled.

Plan B:

Another rain squall blackened the northern sky and we quickened our pace to the Cozumel ferryboat landing.

The squall tied with our convergence at the ferry pavilion waiting area and we were still dry.

We boarded the 3 p. m. ferryboat. It was nearly full and this is off season.

Our last visit to Cozumel was nearly ten years ago. The population is now over 100, 000.

In 1958 when Michel Peissel, ethnologist, explorer, and author, landed at Cozumel it was a different world. In his book, the Lost World of Quintana Roo, he wrote:

“The Cuban revolution had also affected the coast, for in closing Cuba to American tourists Castro had opened up a boom on Cozumel Island. Three years earlier Cozumel had no hotel, and now I learned that four were in operation and two giant hostelries were under construction. There was a daily flight from Mérida to Cozumel, which had become but another name in the world of Caribbean resorts. The invasion of Cozumel by tourists was, I felt, the end of the Quintana Roo I had known.”

When Jane and I first explored the Caribbean coast of Yucatan in the mid 1980s Playa del Carmen had about a dozen single story thatched roof structures along the beach, and it was jungle all the way to the newly built road where there was a Pemex gasoline station…the only one between Cancun and Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Today Playa del Carmen is a major tourist and shopping destination on an eight lane super highway with urban sprawl.

A cast bronze sculpture depicting reef divers at the waterfront of San Miguel, Cozumel.

If a hurricane does not blow you away in September or October, this is paradise.

After crossing to Cozumel on the ferry, we followed a lead to Hostelito on 10th Avenue. We took their best room, the suite. It had been a long day. We could check out other places later.

In the following days, we checked out the good, bad and ugly; upscale and economy. We couldn’t find better.

With few exceptions the rental accommodations all have air conditioning and hot water. If there is one place on the planet you do NOT need these things, it is here in this balmy salubrious tropical climate where even rain storms are warm.*

Our Mérida friend Tere Castro’s mother is from Cozumel. Tere told us we just had to try the market (Mercado Municipal Benito Juarez) food court located between Av. 20 and Av. 25 on Calle Adolfo R. Salas.

We found it extremely high-quality with a wide range of authentic Mexican food. Again we never found better. Their huge selection of salsas were tops.

Taqueria Molina is one of many market food court restaurants that open at 5 a. m. with a steady clientele of eager eaters who love the very best.

The people of Cozumel are an international jumble and no stereotype fits. They tend to be friendly, not pushy or high pressure, and generally eager to make a profit. An example; Jane bought coffee for $14 pesos and I went for a refill fifteen minutes later and they wanted to charge $17 pesos…same cup same place. Tourists tend to be an easy mark.

Shopping is one of Cozumel’s attractions. Diamond, gold and silver plus tourist trinket shops abound and have a propensity to be upscale near the ferry landing.

Traffic is light and the drivers are mostly easy going. However, visitors in rentals think they own the roads and rules do not apply. Note: Your auto insurance is voided if you are drunk, breaking the law or drive off the pavement. The rental outfits hold your signed credit card voucher and all infractions and fines will be paid by you. Improperly parked vehicles may have their license plates removed or the car towed and impounded where the owner pays more charges.

Public transport makes life in Mexico pleasanter.

Your options for rentals range from bicycles, motor scooters, jeeps, cars, and horse carriages. We travel by bicycle and bus using folding bikes.

Snorkel and scuba diving are the main draws of Cozumel. Sailboats, jet skis, paragliding, and glass bottomed boats are all there and more. The options are far too many to list here.

May and June are wonderful here with few tourists. Do not linger too long because when the June rains begin the mosquitoes can be unmerciful.

Summer is high season on all Mexican beaches.

September until mid-December is also a low tourist season. If you do not mind dodging rain squalls and the occasional hurricane then September until mid-November offers off-season advantages.

*Note: Visitors from northern latitudes with painfully white skin never exposed to the sunlight and totally unaccustomed to the comfort of natural tropical living insist on air conditioning and hot water showers.

Mexicans do not tend to fix anything that is working and that includes air conditioners. As a consequence, the filters become lush breeding grounds for broadcasting pathogens that can be a serious health risk. A little paranoia can save your life. Drink bottled water, take care of your personal hygiene, and wash your hands.

Take the time to learn all of the uses of hammocks. You will be richly rewarded with a lifetime of convenient, comfortable and contented repose.

Numerous monuments that commutate the history of Cozumel and Mexico are scattered throughout the island.

Waterfront monument dedicated to Gonzalo Guerrero, his wife Zazil Ha and their three mestizo children.

This fascinating story actually begins with the birth of Gonzalo Guerrero back in the early 1470’s at Palos, Andalusia, Spain.

Trained as a military combatant he fought to drive the last of the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula by 1492 ending eight centuries of Islamic occupation. Then he took up his next position of soldier/sailor on Columbus’s first ocean crossing expedition aboard the small open carvel vessel Niña.

In 1511 Gonzalo set sail in good weather from the Gulf of Darien on the Colombian coast of South America north bound with looted treasure and slaves.

What happened next is one of the worst nightmare stories that could happen to anyone.

Forty year old Gonzalo’s ship floundered and he was plummeted into the sea. Aboard a makeshift raft with no food or water, Gonzalo and the seventeen men and two women that survived the wrath of a hurricane that dismasted and sunk their ship drifted to the Yucatan Peninsula. Gonzalo and his shipmates were taken as slaves by the local Maya.

Gonzalo gained his freedom from slavery through an act of bravery. He killed an alligator that was attacking his Mayan master.

Gonzalo Guerrero left a lasting legacy with his newly adopted countrymen.

Gonzalo took a Mayan princess named Zazil Ha as his wife and was given the temples of Ichpaatún north of Chetumal, presently designated on maps as Oxtankah. He then engaged in ritual mutilation and tattooing that included piercing his ears and cheeks. These acts assimilated him into the Mayan way of life.

For centuries Gonzalo Guerrero was despised by the Spanish for being a traitor, defector, and renegade. He was a man who had fought against his countrymen, turned his back on his land of birth, society, renounced his faith and denied Christ.

After the independence of Mexico from Spain, a change took place. Some Mexicans descended from the conquerors now began to feel a real passion for the Mayan culture. For the Maya, one name that symbolizes the struggle in opposition to colonial imperialist power and a struggle for freedom was Gonzalo Guerrero.

Monument commemorating the arrival of the Spanish.

Replica of a Mayan temple on Cozumel’s waterfront commemorates the arrival of Spaniards Juan de Grijalva and Hernán Cortés.

The first Spanish expedition to visit Cozumel was led by Juan de Grijalva in 1518. In 1519, Hernán Cortés stopped by the island on his way to Veracruz.

The Spanish commandeered the salt trade plus gold and gems. Next pirates looted the Spanish treasure fleets and the Spanish fortified their settlements for protection of their pillaged loot.

Juan Bautista Vega was born in Cozumel in 1884. In 1896 Dr. Fábregas an adventurer and treasure hunter arrived in Cozumel with the intention of crossing to Tulum on the mainland of Quintana Roo. The Chan Santa Cruz Mayas were in control in the area of Tulum. They had been at war with the Mexicans since the Caste War that began in 1847. Their “talking cross” had dictated that no whites should be allowed to enter their area. With money as the lure, Dr. Fábregas succeeded in finding a boat and crew to make the crossing. Eleven year old Juan Bautista Vega was one of the crew along with his stepfather and one other “white” from Cozumel. The Chan Santa Cruz Maya, known as the Cruzoob, were on hand to welcome the visitors. All were killed by the Cruzoob except young Juan who was taken prisoner. When the Maya discovered that Juan could read Spanish, they decided he could be useful to them in negotiations with the Mexican government. Juan was taught Maya and endeared himself to the Maya. He lived among the Cruzoob, became a general in their militia, married a Mayan woman, and became a tribal chief.

The mainland of Quintana Roo remained an isolated and unexplored land because of the presence of the Cruzoob Maya. For over four hundred years the Mayas of Quintana Roo successfully repelled the Spanish and Mexican conquistadores until the last shots of the Caste War of 1847 rang out at Dzula in 1935.

Juan Bautista Vega was instrumental in brokering a lasting peace between the Mexican government and the Cruzoob Maya. In 1926 Juan visited his “white” family in Cozumel but then returned to his Mayan home on the mainland and lived the rest of his life among the Maya. Gen. Juan Bautista Vega died in 1969.

Notable visitors to Cozumel

In 1842, explorer, author and anthropologist John L. Stephens arrived in Cozumel in a small coastal sailing vessel from Yucatan shortly after Mexican independence and before the protracted Caste War. He became the first to chronicle Cozumel, Tulum, the Mayan temples, and wild jungle in the days of pirates in his 1843 two-volume publication Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. This excellent book is still in print and also available in digital addition free from Gutenberg Press.

In 1958, Michel Peissel wrote of Cozumel:

But the smuggling is now very much reduced, and as an islander told me sadly, “One hardly lives on smuggling today.” Occasionally a few small boats dump whisky and perfumes from British Honduras on the islands. In the old days Isla Mujeres and Cozumel had been thriving pirate stations; here the buccaneers would wait in ambush as slowly the Spanish galleons, weighted down with Peruvian gold, would beat their way up along the coast and through the Yucatan Straits on their way to Cuba and Spain from Panama.

Michel Peissel first arrived at Cozumel on a 45 foot sailing schooner. He wrote:

Judging from the rough weather that is characteristic of the straits between Cozumel and the coast, the dugout canoes of the Mayas must have been seaworthy craft and the oarsmen good sailors. From the summit of the waves I could catch a glimpse of the island which now appeared as a low gray streak on the horizon … At three o’clock we were up against the flat coastline of Cozumel and the small village of San Miguel came into sight. I was quite disappointed, for the village looked ugly, composed of an odd assortment of stone, cement, and wooden houses of various styles that were stretched along the waterfront.

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https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/cozumel-september-getaway-2013/feed/0yucatanfortravelersImageImageImageImageImageImageProgreso: Yucatan’s Tropical Seaport Townhttps://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/161/
https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/161/#respondThu, 21 Mar 2013 00:44:34 +0000http://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/?p=161Continue reading →]]>PROGRESO: Yucatan’s tropical seaport town where eating is fun and easy.Sol y Mar Restaurant Calle 78 near the corner with Calle 23Downtown Progreso
When Jane’s cousin and his wife Phyllis from Texas arrived in Progreso on a Carnival cruise ship we met them on Calle 80 in front of the lighthouse. Our first stop was for coffee at Sol y Mar…and we stayed for lunch.
Phyllis is a fajita aficionado and asked about the beef fajitas. We told her that a friend raved about the chicken fajitas.
My comment: “If you have been in Mexico so long that the beef starts to taste good, you have been in Mexico too long.”

Phyllis enjoying fajitas.
Phyllis persisted and ordered the beef fajitas. The order arrived and Phyllis ate with relish. She not only raved about the fajitas, but she exclaimed that they were the best she had ever had…and she is from Texas, home to the world’s best fajitas.
Karl had the house special and rated it excellent.
What more could we ask for: our fish filets were delicious and our guests were happy.Gabriel, chef and owner of Sol Y Mar, has a magic touch and winning charm.
Sol y Mar Restaurant has hot coffee, cold beer, fabulous food, and excellent service at nice prices.
Give Sol y Mar a try. They open for breakfast at 8:30 a.m.
Read more about this slice of paradise in the recently revised book, Yucatán’s Magic, Mérida Side Trips, and just published: Yucatan for Travelers – Side Trips: Valladolid to Tulum, available worldwide in paperback and digital editions.

We always travel with our folding bicycles, which easily stow in the luggage compartment of the bus, or inside or on the roof of a colectivo taxi.

If your time in Valladolid is limited, bike to the municipal market or one or more of Valladolid’s five distinct neighborhoods, each with a historic church.

Located in the village of Uayma, just a short bicycle ride from Vallodolid, is this beautiful church.

If you have half a day, consider biking to one or more of the nearby cenotes, villages, or to Ek Balam. MexiGo tours is the place to rent a bike and do your own tour, or take one of their guided bicycle excursions. They also have excellent guided tours that visit points of interest at a sensible rate and in the comfort of an air conditioned van.

Toon, his wife Vivyana, and their guides have a wide range of language skills and are very well-informed on what to do and see in Valladolid and the area. MexiGo Tours (www.mexigotours.com) is located on Calle 43 No. 204-C, between Calle 40 and Calle 42, directly behind the big downtown church.

MexiGo Tours are the ones to ask about where to eat and accommodations…I assure you they will make certain you get the very best quality, location, and at prices you will like.

Special Treats in Valladolid

Longaniza de Valladolid, greased to kill spicy sausage, but irresistible and worth the risk.

Sosa Xtabentun is a sweet honey based liquor that originated here. Xtabentun can be purchased at Compañía Sosa located on Calle 42, No. 215, between Calle 47 and 49 in downtown Valladolid.

Bizcochos, small bread sticks found in the bakery on the corner of Calle 39 and Calle 46 near the ADO bus terminal…knock-offs have become popular and are found all around Yucatan.

Tour guide books extensively describe Valladolid points of interest and the numerous hotels available. Our interest is showing you the other face of Yucatan; places away from tour buses and trinket shops, places that make you want to linger.

Valladolid is an excellently located colonial city steeped in history. Half way from Mérida, Cancun and Tulum, a diversity of spectacular side trips abound.

Yucatan for Travelers – Side Trips: Valladolid to Tulum in available in paperback and Kindle editions from Amazon.com and also in a digital edition for NOOK and iBookstore.

]]>https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/side-streets-of-vallaolid-yucatan/feed/1yucatanfortravelersImageImageImageImageRio Lagartos, Yucatan – Visit Sendero Peten Tucha at the Reserva de La Biosfera Ria Lagartoshttps://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/rio-lagartos-yucatan-visit-sendero-peten-tucha-at-the-reserva-de-la-biosfera-ria-lagartos/
https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/rio-lagartos-yucatan-visit-sendero-peten-tucha-at-the-reserva-de-la-biosfera-ria-lagartos/#respondSat, 10 Nov 2012 23:10:30 +0000http://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/?p=113Continue reading →]]>On the seldom traveled road from Rio Lagartos, Yucatan, to Las Coloradas between kilometer 8 and 9 there is a culvert and nearby a small sign denoting 50 meters to the entrance of the hiking path Sendero Peten Tucha (A peten is a low area of land known as a hammock that emerges from the wetland marsh).

If you are looking for the perfect unspoiled wetlands getaway with no tour buses or trinket shops, this is for you. In the photo Jane stands before a palapa located at the entrance to the trail, where you may relax and refresh in the welcome tranquil shade.

This is a wetlands walking tour. We did however take our bicycles although we had to walk in several places. Along the trail you will find numerous well shaded benches where the tropical forest ambiance can be appreciated to the fullest. The footpath, sender, divides around a huge open fresh water spring. One side of the foot path is on an elevated boardwalk through the wetlands of a mangrove hammock. The other side is a smooth well shaded pathway and both converge at a tall observation tower that commands a magnificent view.

]]>https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/rio-lagartos-yucatan-visit-sendero-peten-tucha-at-the-reserva-de-la-biosfera-ria-lagartos/feed/0yucatanfortravelersSendero Peten Tucha_Rio LagarosSendero Peten Tucha_Rio Lagaros (2)Sendero Peten Tucha_Rio Lagaros (3)Muyil Mayan Ruins– A Side Trip From Tulumhttps://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/muyil-mayan-ruins-a-side-trip-from-tulum/
https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/muyil-mayan-ruins-a-side-trip-from-tulum/#commentsWed, 20 Jun 2012 01:24:00 +0000http://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/?p=81Continue reading →]]>Twenty-two kilometers south of Tulum is a remarkable link to Mayan ingenuity.
Muyil, located in a dense jungle setting, is an inland seaport connected to the Caribbean Sea by two man-made canals. Muyil is also known as Chunyaxché and still exists as a noteworthy testimonial to the engineering achievements of this remarkable Mayan civilization.
Muyil is a wonderful place to take a nature hike, mingle with tropical nature and witness some unusual examples of the Mayan advanced infrastructure that still exist within this archeological zone.
This is a big place so plan to do a lot of walking. To enjoy Muyil to its fullest, a half day of leisurely poking along will enhance your pleasurable experience immensely.
After a short ride from the bus station in Tulum, the Mayab bus will let you off near the entrance. It is only a short walk to visit El Castillo, one of the tallest Mayan ruins on the east coast of the Caribbean.
In the late 1950’s when this area was a territorial part of Mexico with literally no infrastructure and only accessible by a five day jungle horseback ride past the end of the railroad line from Mérida or by coastal sailing vessel from the Caribbean island of Cozumel.
Pablo Bush Romero led one of the first expeditions to this “Lost City of the Maya.” In his book, Under the Waters of Mexico, he wrote about his remarkable adventure:
“After about thirty minutes of navigating through the channel, we entered the impressive lake of Chunyaxché, a marvel of archaeologists specializing in Mayan civilization. Precisely at the mouth of the channel, on the left side, we discovered a temple of Xlabpak…
Let us go to Chunyaxché. After crossing the lake, with its exquisitely blue water, we went through another canal. After several hours of navigating on the canal, we arrived at Lake Muyil, which was wide and not very deep. After landing on the dilapidated pier, we started our exploration by walking along a trail through the jungle, which ended in a clearing where there were two small huts inhabited by natives…”

El Castillo
On your jungle walk you will see the seventeen meter or nearly sixty foot tall partially restored Mayan temple that has the significance of being an observation platform and signaling station. On the pinnacle of El Castillo is a platform that allows a view of the distant Caribbean Sea and all waterways linking it to Muyil. There is evidence that signal fires were built on its peak that may have been used to guide in the Mayan seafaring merchant vessels. Muyil began to populate by 300 B.C. This was centuries before such ancient Maya cities as Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Tulum.
Explorer Pablo Bush Romero describes in his book Under the Waters of Mexico what he and his colleagues encountered at Muyil’s El Castillo, a pyramid with steep steps and an oratory on top:
“Under one of these steps we found a tunnel which led to another temple situated in the heart of the pyramid. According to Segovia, this temple was dedicated to the high priests. Along the passage were a series of niches. We put our hands deep into each niche to see if there were any archeological relics. When we reached the most important one in the center of the tunnel, Alfonso Arnold, by chance or though some kind of intuition, thought to turn on his search light on first. He got such a scare that he recoiled almost as far as the front wall. Instead of archeological relics, what he saw there was a nest of deadly nauyaca or “sorda” or “four-nosed” snakes, the most poisonous in the Mexican paradise.
It was a good thing that we frightened a few of these serpents because if anybody’s hand had been bitten, it would have been necessary to resort to a primitive surgery technique of the “chicleros”.* Since we carried no antidotes, this involved immediate amputation of the bitten limb with a machete without sterilization or anesthesia.”

Built with a purpose, El Castillo is but one of nearly a hundred structures erected on these premises. Muyil was on one of many Mayan trading routes. Though some distance from the sea, the Maya excavated straight canals, one of five kilometers in length and the other one kilometer cutting down into bedrock with nothing but hand tools to accomplish their enormous goal. This is a real seaport in the jungle.
Seagoing sailing freight canoes of the Chontal Maya from Tabasco plied these waters ranging from distant Vera Cruz, Cuba, Florida and Central America. The cumbersome sea salt from northern Yucatan could have only been transported by seagoing vessel. Other cargo items included cotton, cocoa, copper, dyes, fish, honey, jade, and more.
In this area the seagoing Maya with their trading canoes utilized natural inlets and beaches along this coast, such as Tulum ruins, Tankah, Akumal, Xaac, Paamul, Chakalal, Xel-Ha and Xcaret. All of these landing ports had Maya temple ruins.
Leaving the area of El Castillo your next jaunt is through a canopy jungle on a boardwalk. This segment will take you about forty minutes. Take your time to sniff the flowers and admire the exotic jungle trees.
If you are tempted to venture off of the walkway, remember the venomous snakes. The pit viper nauyaca is found in this lowland habitat. Together with the rattlesnake it is the chief cause of snakebite in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

Midpoint on your boardwalk trip is an observation tower.
The observation tower offers a splendid view of the expansive surrounding jungle, lakes, lagoons, mangrove swamps, and the distant Caribbean, but climb at your own risk. The steps are steep and are for the young and adventurous.

Muyil is under the jurisdiction of the federal agency INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia), but is partially within the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve.

Emerging from the jungle boardwalk you will find yourself at a lovely beach on Muyil Lagoon where guided tours are available. Several different excursions are offered including traversing the ancient Mayan canal system. There is nothing like this anywhere. If nature is what you came to see, this is your place. Don’t miss your opportunity.
Strolling back from the lake you will find yourself on an ancient Mayan sacbe road that has remnants of pre-Columbian ornate stone carving.
Pablo Bush Romero exclaims in his book Under the Waters of Mexico: “What amazing road engineers the Maya’s were! I have traced from a helicopter one of those roads called “Sacbe” [white road] for over 100 kilometers. Undoubtedly, Tulum was the focal point of a coastal artery because every seven or eight kilometers there is a temple. The temples offered refuge to travelers, thus establishing centers of protection against cannibalistic Caribe Indians…”

The jungle diversity here is positively amazing. Your path around the Muyil Mayan ruins site gives you a look at the area’s range of topography.
The jungle is literally full of temples in varying stages of restoration and degradation. Trees of considerable size have embedded themselves in the ancient structures. If unchecked, the trees with their invasive root systems will pull them all down. It has been over five hundred years that the jungle has had a free hand to do its destruction here and yet these structures stubbornly stand.

For the return trip to Tulum, walk out to the main road, then to the bus stop a short distance south of the entrance to Muyil ruins and wave down a bus or van (colectivo taxi) for the short trip back to Tulum. This side trip is recommended to all those who truly want more than just another tourist trap.

*Chiclero (sp) a gatherer of chicle. Chicle is a gum from the latex of the sapodilla tree (zapote) used as the chief ingredient of chewing gum.

Copyright 2012 John M. Grimsrud

The book for traveling adventurers who want to see more than just trinket shops and crowded tourist traps has arrived: Our book—built one stone at a time like the Mayan pyramids.Yucatán’s Magic–Mérida Side Trips: Treasures of MayabOver a quarter of a century of inspired exploration and recording of our travels has led my wife and me to compile an impressive collection of outings that are the foundation for this book, built one story at a time. This isn’t a guide book but an idea book. It is something of another element not made to compete with guidebooks—it is made to complement them.
Available from iBook store and Amazon.com in paperback
and Kindle.
For EPUB edition: click here.
For NOOK edition: click here

Discover real Mexican food out of the tourist loop; tacos, tamales and seafood.
Relax and swim at the Mexican Caribbean’s best public beach. Below is Santa Fe beach south of the Mayan ruins, the best beach.
You might get the impression that the Riviera Maya and the Caribbean Sea are just about fun in the sun and beaches. The salubrious crystal clear water is comfortable year round making water sports a world wide draw. Tulum is blessed with the best of the best in this department. The offshore coral reef, one of the world’s largest, calms the waves making swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving an unforgettable experience…not for everybody. Surfers go to the Pacific coast.
The very best of these beaches is the one that starts at the majestic Mayan ruins perched high atop a rock outcropping south for three kilometers. Heavenly shade is provided by coconut palms and sea grape trees…ideal for swinging hammocks. Public access signs are posted.
Tulum is more than just a beach; eateries and accommodations abound.

You have traveled a long distance to sample the real Mexican cuisine. After you have surveyed the downtown Main Street with its carnival atmosphere complete with persistent hawkers pitching everything from trinkets to tattoos and the countless restaurants go to the traffic circle corner by the Scotia Bank. There on Satelite Sur street venders of real Mexican food begin in early morning and change over the day and evening. Excellent eats at reasonable rates. Nearby Sun and Jupiter streets need investigating also.

A mini restaurant on a people powered tricycle is one of the many purveyors of real Mexican victuals you will find here.

Seven pesos or about 50 US cents will buy you one of these scrumptious empanadas…you will want more than one.

The best of real Mexican regional food directly from Mexico City is prepared here by Dolores, the owner and recent arrival in Tulum who will make you feel like a regular after your first visit.This is true street food served on the sidewalk.

Smiling Jane is about to savor half an order of huarache, a Mexico City regional specialty now made famous nation-wide. The name huarache is that of a type of a Mexican shoe and the owner of this eating establishment, Dolores, has a very tall son with big feet…she patterned her huaraches after the size of his feet.

Evenings the tamale vender on Satelite Sur will add as much hot chili sauce as your gastronomy can tolerate.

These tamales are a style of the Mexico City area where corn husks are used to cook them in. The Yucatan style employs banana leaves.

One of our favorite Mexican tamales is mole…however all need sampling.
Mexico boasts over a thousand different varieties…too good to quit. Self restraint can be nearly impossible with these eats approaching addictive substance status. It is easy to go home resembling a short stack of tortillas. The variety of tacos is much the same case, and Tulum has some of the most savory of all.

Calle Sol

One block south parallel main street in Tulum is Calle Sol, there more of the real Mexico is found.
The selection and variety of eating experiences is endless…take your unhurried time. This is the land of take it easy. Walking or bicycling is best for sightseeing and shopping.

From 8 a.m. for breakfast (desayuno) and all day this excellent eatery will satisfy your hunger with a tasty assortment of dishes of Yucatecan and Mexican cuisines…they are bicycle friendly.
This is the tropics where open air restaurants are the standard and Mario the owner will make you a regular after your first visit.
At La Palapita Yucatecarestaurant the presentation is enticing. Above is a panucho, a Yucatecan style chicken or turkey open taco and two empanadas, fried tacos that come with a variety of fillings.
Tulum has an influx of Mexicans from the entire country and this amalgamation has brought with them their regional culinary specialties, which can be sampled all along the Riviera Maya.
For seafood the fisherman’s co-op restaurant and fresh fish market, El Camello, south of the downtown a couple of blocks, beats all for freshness and price.

Hotels, hostels, and beach resorts
This area may be overbuilt in the accommodations department except at the absolute peak of the tourist season. Consult Trip Advisor on the Internet for the latest rates and availabilities. These are subject to change seasonally and with currency fluctuations.
Beach resorts are in a wide range of categories from the exclusive five-star all-inclusive where all you can eat and drink for one flat fee to backpacker camping.
One of the best water front camping places is Santa Fe, just south of the Mayan ruins on the best beach.
For the economy minded traveler hostels could be the best choice. In the last couple of years they seem to have sprouted up everywhere in the Tulum area. Still the best all around choice is the Tulum Bike Hostel (Hostel Lobo Inn) located at KM 230 on the main north-south highway close to the Tulum archeological ruins entrance road. For more information, email: bedbikeandbreakfastulum@hotmail.com
Dormitory beds start at $10.00 USD or $130 pesos and all lodgings includes breakfast, bicycle use, pool, internet access, security lockers, purified drinking water, full kitchen access, hot water showers, and more. Private rooms are available for two to twelve persons and camping is also available. This is the perfect choice for eccentric peso pinchers.

Diving
Divers come to Tulum for the wide variety of diving experiences offered here. Diving guides are recommended that are certified for caves, cenotes, reefs and the sea. Scuba and snorkel trips make for unforgettable adventures you won’t want to miss. Tulum has an abundance of dive shops, but the oldest and most reliable is Acuatic Tulum located on the main highway #307 by the stop light at the Cobá turn off next to the 7Eleven.http://www.acuatictulum.com.mx/home_en.html
e-mail: alexalvareze@prodigy.net.mx

The lure of the Caribbean is enticing especially when you consider that the clean air and clear water temperatures are nearly constant at 30°C or 84°F all year. There is a dry season that extends from November to May when precipitation is minimal, but what rain does fall is brief…you can get all the sun you want by accident here on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. What are you waiting for?

Copyright 2012 John M. Grimsrud

The book for traveling adventurers who want to see more than just trinket shops and crowded tourist traps has arrived: Our book—built one stone at a time like the Mayan pyramids.Yucatán’s Magic–Mérida Side Trips: Treasures of MayabOver a quarter of a century of inspired exploration and recording of our travels has led my wife and me to compile an impressive collection of outings that are the foundation for this book, built one story at a time. This isn’t a guide book but an idea book. It is something of another element not made to compete with guidebooks—it is made to complement them.

]]>https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/tulum-mexican-caribbeans-best-beach/feed/4yucatanfortravelersImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageCover small Yucatan's MagicYUCATAN HIGHLIGHTS FOR TRAVELERS, NOT TOURISTShttps://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/hello-world/
https://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/hello-world/#commentsWed, 06 Jun 2012 15:35:31 +0000http://yucatanfortravelers.wordpress.com/?p=1Continue reading →]]>Over a quarter of a century of inspired exploration and recording of our travels while living in Mérida, Yucatán, has led my wife and me to compile an impressive collection of outings that are the foundation for this blog, built one story at a time.
We look beyond the obvious popular tourist attractions, the luxury coast resorts and the modern conveniences of big cities to discover the unique Yucatán. From the Puuc hills to the extensive coast of Yucatán there are thousands of kilometers of paved quiet roads through countless Mayan villages interspersed with colonial haciendas and ancient Mayan ruins, all there just waiting for your visit.
You may travel the world over and never find a stranger or more interesting adventuresome getaway.
The tranquility of Yucatán speaks to us with powerful vibes of the mighty Mayan empire that flourished here.
From the top of a large Mayan pyramid, the Yucatán jungle still appears much as it did to John Stephens in the 1840s, when he said: “Ours was the first visit to examine these ruins. For ages they had been unnoticed, almost unknown, and left to struggle with rank tropical vegetation.”
Numerous buses depart Mérida for outlying villages across Yucatán and you will be able to sit back and be whisked along on the seldom traveled quiet back roads witnessing the quaint Mayan villages unaffected by the passing centuries.
When you explore the towns and villages treat yourself to an experience of a lifetime and hire one of the people powered tricycle taxis for a guided tour. This is something you can do nearly anywhere in Yucatán.

You are sure to see Mayan thatched roof homes still in use on village side streets the same as they have been for thousands of years…bring your camera!
Thirty years ago when Jane and I visited Yucatán over half of the homes outside of Mérida were palapas. The palapa was standard home construction for the Maya because all of the materials were available from the land. To this day you will find depictions of these homes carved in stone at area Mayan ruins.Morning, noon, and night purveyors of Mayan specialty foods that change with the seasonal crops arrive at the village markets and quickly sell out. Some of Yucatán’s finest delights are only available at these places. Until you have partaken of the local favorites you haven’t sampled the real Yucatán. Mexico claims to have more than a thousand different variations of the tamales.
We learned one interesting piece of wisdom from the Mayan farmers. They told us that there was a big bank in town full of money but you couldn’t eat the money. Even though their crop had little monetary value at 25 pesos per kilo, they could at least eat it.

The Mayan staff of life, the corn (maiz) tortilla, is sold by the kilo, hot and ready to eat. All across Yucatán tortilla shops, known locally as tortillarias or molinos, can be found busily producing stacks of tortillas. Tortillas are sold by the kilo or even the gram. These little shops have a distinctive roaring sound that alerts us so we can then follow our ears directly to the tortilla shop. We feel that our adventure tours are not complete without the purchase of at least 250 grams or ¼ kilo to eat hot.
We jokingly say that the Yucatecan food is so good and plentiful that it could easily get you resembling a short stack of tortillas.
Mayan hospitality and social sensitivity is still alive and well in rural Yucatán. In a small village as I sat in the park a lady asked me if I was hungry. I replied that I was. Even though they had no tortillas at the molino, in a few minutes a little girl arrived in the park with tortillas and a big smile. We have always found that these wonderful people would freely share whatever they had.
In many outlying villages it is common that only one man will speak Spanish, the others Mayan including the children. A Spanish speaking man saw us eating just tortillas and told us he didn’t have much food in his house, only a pot of beans, but we were welcome to share it with him. The Mayan people will not let you starve.
After our outings we are able to scratch one more road trip off our list. As it nearly always happens when we remove one trip from the list, we add two more.
If we could find a better place we would surely be there.
Every day in Mexico is an adventure.
We pack a week’s worth of activities into just one day and you too will find it is easy.
Plan your outings for mornings because afternoons in Yucatán are made for hammocks.

The book for traveling adventurers who want to see more than just trinket shops and crowded tourist traps has arrived: Our book—built one stone at a time like the Mayan pyramids.Yucatán’s Magic–Mérida Side Trips: Treasures of MayabOver a quarter of a century of inspired exploration and recording of our travels has led my wife and me to compile an impressive collection of outings that are the foundation for this book, built one story at a time. This isn’t a guide book but an idea book. It is something of another element not made to compete with guidebooks—it is made to complement them.